The Martingale Approach to Financial Mathematics

<p>In this thesis, we will develop the fundamental properties of financial mathematics, with a focus on establishing meaningful connections between martingale theory, stochastic calculus, and measure-theoretic probability. We first consider a simple binomial model in discrete time, and assume the impossibility of earning a riskless profit, known as arbitrage. Under this no-arbitrage assumption alone, we stumble upon a strange new probability measure <em>Q</em>, according to which every risky asset is expected to grow as though it were a bond. As it turns out, this measure <em>Q</em> also gives the arbitrage-free pricing formula for every asset on our market. In considering a slightly more complicated model over a finite probability space, we see that <em>Q</em> once again makes its appearance. Finally, in the context of continuous time, we build a framework of stochastic calculus to model the trajectories of asset prices on a finite time interval. Under the absence of arbitrage once more, we see that <em>Q</em> makes its return as a Radon-Nikodym derivative of our initial probability measure. Finally, we use the properties of <em>Q</em> and a stochastic differential equation that models the dynamics of the assets of our market, known as the Ito formula, in order to derive the classic Black-Scholes Equation.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS in Mathematics

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mathematics

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Rowley, Jordan M

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dana Paquin

• finance
• martingale
• probability
• arbitrage
• stochastic calulus
• measure theory
• Other Applied Mathematics
• Other Mathematics
• Partial Differential Equations

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2019.28

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-3409